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A life jacket can't effectively protect you against debris, but it can help keep you from drowning from exhaustion as you try to dodge and seek an escape. And if you do die anyway, it could help your body be found, for the sake of those who mourn you.
Also: if it's physically possible for you, please learn to swim.
Thank you and everyone else for all the informative comments!
Back in 2014, I actually did kinda force myself to learn to swim, once, in a deep river with a current. I wasn't all that great at swimming, but I managed to resurface and start swimming towards the shore before someone else swam out to help me.
I think I could have managed to swim to shore myself, but at a struggle as it was my first time ever trying to swim. Regardless, at least I have one experience under my belt.
I'm impressed with your initiative! But maybe practice some more, in a safer place, with someone who can help you become more efficient at staying afloat and moving easily through the water.
With all the care, I would strongly advise you not to go with "you must be in a survival situation to learn to swim" cliché.
Not only is it, well, dangerous, but it also doesn't teach you to swim properly either. If you just try to stay on the surface, you'll expend a ton of energy and can get water in your throat which will complicate things severely.
You should learn to stay on the surface by breathing only. Pick a place with still water (lake? calm sea? pool?) and learn to lay down on your spine without movement. Do it near the shore, of course. Just put your body in a star shape, legs and hands extended, and learn to breathe in a way that allows you to float still. Once you learn it, not only you have improved breathing technique helpful in swimming, but you can also take a rest on water anytime to restore without even having a jacket in the first place.
Then, knowing how to breathe to stay afloat, learn to swim. Now you can save a lot of energy because you don't need much movement to keep you afloat, and you can just swim in the direction you need